Expectations for the recent NBA All-Star weekend in New Orleans were high as there were a number of celebrities and elite athletes in attendance, but it failed to meet the standard that fans have come to expect from an all-star weekend.
The weekend kicked off on Feb. 17 with the Celebrity Game. The East team, led by Win Butler with 22 points and NBA impersonator Brandon Armstrong with 16 points to beat the West, 88-59, in a very unexciting game that feature minimal defense.
Armstrong was the MVP of the game, but the real star was Jarrius Robertson, a 14-year-old kid from New Orleans who is awaiting a liver transplant. The celebs substituted him in the game in the fourth quarter. He went on to drain a mid-range jumper in a moment he will remember for the rest of his life.
The Celebrity Game proved to simply just be fun and games when a mannequin challenge broke out and every member of each team froze for about 10 seconds. This moment was very hard to watch and I hope I never see anything like that again. Especially in slow motion.
After the Celebrity Game came the Rising Stars Challenge. The Rising Stars challenge features first- and second-year players in a World vs. USA format. To my surprise, this game was really fun to watch. Despite the limited defense that was on display, the game showed long-range shooting, flashy play and monster dunks, which could have excited any basketball crowd.
The game was close the whole way and finished with Team World topping Team USA, 150-141. Fourteen players scored in double figures in an offensive-minded game. Jamal Murray contributed 36 points and 10 assists to go along with nine 3-pointers, the second most in contest history. His performance captured him MVP honors in a game that totaled 291 combined points.
Feb. 18 played host to the skills challenge, 3-point contest and the dunk contest.
In an event where guards are supposed to excel, the big men won another skills challenge. Last year Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns won and this year my favorite big, New York’s Kristaps Porzingis won. Porzingis slightly edged out Utah’s Gordon Hayward to take home the trophy. Both players were even the whole way through, until the 3-point shot, in which Porzingis drained his first try.
Big men used to be restricted to inside post play on offense but have now expanded their game to the 3 point arc. They can now handle the ball a little bit and have showed that they have skills, too.
Although the NBA shortened the 3-point contest from three rounds to two, it took three rounds for Houston’s Eric Gordon to win. Gordon and Cleveland’s star guard Kyrie Irving both scored 20 in the second round to force a shootout.
In the shootout round, Irving finished with 18 points. After making just two of his first five shots, Gordon went on to make 11 of his next 12 shots and finish with 21 points, becoming the first member of the Houston Rockets to win the 3-point contest.
The most highly anticipated event every All Star Weekend is the dunk contest. The dunk contest featured All-Star Deandre Jordan, defending runner-up Aaron Gordon, rookie Derrick Jones Jr., and winner Glenn Robinson Ⅲ. This dunk contest had no excitement whatsoever. I was very disappointed in the lack of completed dunks and the quality of the competition compared to last year was simply lacking.
Last year, Zach Lavine windmill slammed it from the free throw line in a duel for the ages with Aaron Gordon. I can’t say the same about this year’s event. The dunkers could not complete their dunks on the first try, taking the excitement away from the dunks. The only really cool dunk was Robinson’s reverse dunk over his head while jumping over three people.
Robinson ended up winning the very disappointing and night-killing 2017 dunk contest.
Now onto the final day of All-Star Weekend, which played host to the 66th All-Star game, pitting the East vs. the West. The East started Kyrie Irving, Demar Derozan, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James. On the other hand, the West started Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden and Anthony Davis.
Davis took home the MVP with 52 points in a 192-182 win for the West. I understand that there is very little defense in All Star games, but 374 combined points is just ridiculous. Players could easily get to the hoop and dunk without a problem, which a fan might think would be entertaining. It’s really not.
The lack of effort made this game very hard to watch and, as a result, the All-Star Weekend was a bust.
